Tool for treating or cleaning wire rope

ABSTRACT

A body defining a cylindrical passage receives a wire rope to be cleaned. An annular orifice extends about the wall of the passage and cooperates with a supply chamber for supplying pressurized fluid to the orifice. A duct between the chamber and the orifice directs fluid against the rope and is angled at more than 45* with respect to the axis of the passage.

' 0 United States Patent 1191 1111 3,736,618 Ramsey June 5, 1973 1 TOOLFOR TREATING OR CLEANING 2,004,422 6/1935 Traut, ..154 122 x W ROPE3,044,098 7/1962 Stalson ...15/306 A x 1,521,390 12/1924 Reynolds..."134/15 X Inventor: Samuel y y, Vwwrla 1,575,526 3/1926 Bocher ...l5/306A a r et n. (1T Yarmouth, 2,536,208 1 1951 Nystrom ..134/15 Norfolk,England Primary Examiner john Petrakes [22] Flled' 1971 AssistantExaminer-C. K. Moore [21] Appl. No.: 127,501 Att0rneyPast0riza & Kelly57 ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl. ..l5/306 A, 15/302, 134/64 1 51] Int. Cl...A47l 5/38 A body defining a cylindrical Passage receives a Wire [58]Field of Search ..15/302, 306 A; rope to be cleaned- An annular Orificeextends about 134/9 15 64 122 the wall of the passage and cooperateswith a supply chamber for supplying pressurized fluid to the orifice. Aduct between the chamber and the orifice directs 6 f t [5 1 Re creme? Cled fluid a ainst the rope and is an led at more than 45 8 g UNITEDSTATES PATENTS with respect to the axis of the passage.

3,270,364 9/1966 Steele ..l5/306 A 7 Claims, 5 Drawing FiguresPATENTEDJUN 5mm 3.736.618

' sum 1 [IF 3 TOOL FOR TREATING OR CLEANING WIRE ROPE The inventionrelates to a tool for cleaning or treating wire rope as the rope moves.The tool may be used for cleaning the rope or applying a protectivecoating of a liquid chemical or oil. Particular application is found inthe treatment of wire rope used for suspending or withdrawinginstruments in a bore hole of a gas or 011 well. In such application,particularly in off-shore drilling, the rope, as it is withdrawn atspeed, carries with it mud and water and perhaps corrosive chemicals. Ifthe rope is not cleaned as it is withdrawn the materials carried by itfoul the surrounding area. Furthermore, the rope wears and corrodesrelatively rapidly. Also, water carried by the rope may freeze and causeserious icing of sleeves, rollers, wheels and the like. Devices usedhitherto for cleaning the rope having included resilient wiper bushes orrollers through which the rope is drawn and which wipe the rope clean.However, such devices are not effective in penetrating the lay of therope strands and cleaning is therefore usually incomplete.

In other fields of application, such as in the manufacture of wirefilaments, devices have been proposed in which air is blown on to thetraveling strand in an annular jet for drying purposes. However, thetreatment of rope, as distinct from a filamentary strand, presentsparticular problems. For example, in order to penetrate the lay of therope strands it is important to have a small clearance between the ropeand the annular jet and with such a small clearance the uneven surfaceof the rope is liable to wear the tool and in particular to spoil theorifice which defines the annular jet.

It is an object of the invention to provide a tool for cleaning ortreating wire rope of the annular jet kind which is capable of cleaningrope effectively and yet has acceptable wear properties. Thus, theinvention provides a tool for cleaning or treating wire rope having abody defining a cylindrical passage along which passes with smallcleanrance, the wire rope to be cleaned or treated; an annular orificeextending around the wall of the passage; a supply chamber in the bodyfor supplying pressurised fluid to the orifice; and an annular ductcoupling the supply chamber to the orifice for conveying the fluid, theduct being inclined, at least at the orifice end, towards the end of thepassage at which the rope enters, the angle between the axis of thepassage and the duct being greater than 45. Preferably the angle isabout 60.

I have found that in practice there is a danger in treating wire ropewith fluid from an orifice directed against the direction of travel ofthe rope, namely that the rope tends to rub against the actue rim of theorifice and soon peens it over to such an extent as to feather the fluidflow. If the angle is made greater than 45 (and obviously less than 90)this effect is suitably alleviated. For cleaning purposes the fluid willusually be air, although special cleaning fluids may be used. Because ofthe inclination of the annular duct the air from the orifice and thematerials suspended in the air are directed out of the said entry end ofthe passage. This end may be open to atmosphere, either directly or byway of exhaust ports, and it may be necessary to provide a shroud aroundthe tool body to contain the spray. Preferably, however, the said end ofthe passage opens in to a crossbore in the body and the air andsuspended substances are withdrawn from the cross-bore by way 2 of tubeswhereby mud and water may be returned to the bore-hole.

When the rope has been cleaned it may be desirable to coat it with aprotective film, perhaps of oil. The tool of the present invention maybe used for such a purpose and the protective liquid may be ejecteddirectly from the orifice or may be carried in atomised form in airblown from the orifice, in which case the supply chamber may be filledwith spray under pressure from an atomiser unit. Conveniently, two toolsmay be arranged in series, the first using air to clean the rope and thesecond applying a protective film to the rope.

The invention will further be described with refer ence to theaccompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a tool embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of part of another tool embodying theinvention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section plan view of the tool of FIG. 2 taken in IIIIII;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the tool of FIGS. 2 and 3; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the use of tools in accordancewith the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 the tool comprises a body 1 of non-ferrous metalprovided wth a cylindrical passage 2 through which wire rope to becleaned is passed. Usually the body is supported with the axis of thepassage vertical and the rope is passed upwardly therethrough. Thediameter of at least a portion of the passage depends upon the gauge ofthe rope to be treated and for a rope of nominal gauge three-fourthsinch a passage diameter of three-fourths inch is satisfactory, therebeing in practice a small clearance. An annular supply chamber 3surrounds the passage 2 and is provided with two inlet ports 4 wherebycompressed air or liquid under pressure may be supplied.

A downwardly inclined annular duct 5 extends from the supply chamber 3and terminates in an annular orifice 6 extending around the wall of thereferred to portion of the passage. The duct is defined by the spacebetween two closely adjacent frusto-conical portions of the body and thewidth of the duct is 0.020 inch. This gives an orifice 6 of width some0.023 inch because the inclination of theduct is 60 to the axis of thepassage. These dimensions are found suitable for cleaning rope with theuse of compressed air from the orifice. An air pressure of about p.s.i.in the supply chamber 3 is adequate to blow mud and water from a rope asit withdraws measuring instruments from a bore hole. The speed ofwithdrawal may be as high as 2,000 ft. per minute.

Because of the inclination of the duct 5 and the proximity of theorifice to the lower end of the passage, the exhaust air carrying themud and water passages out from the lower end of the passage. In orderto contain this spray there is provided a cylindrical shroud 7.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3 there is shown a pre ferred embodiment ofthe tool. In this embodiment the tool body is moulded in nylon and hasreplaceable nylon wear bushes 8 and 9 at the entry and exit endsrespectively. In FIG. 2 the rope is shown at 10 and passes downwardlythrough the tool. The annular duct 5 is defined at one side by the bodyand at the other side by the bush 9. As in the FIG. 1 embodiment theduct makes an angle of 60 with the axis of passage 2 and there isdefined an annular chamber 3 for receiving pressurized fluid throughsuitable inlet ports 4.

The body is provided with a cross-bore 1 l. The lower end of the passage2 is flared at 12 into the cross-bore and above the cross-bore there isa lead-in passage 13 through which the rope passes. Two exhaust tubes,14

(FIG. 3) are formed at the ends of the cross-bore and carry the exhaustspray away, conveniently leading it back down the bore hole.

The tool of FIG. 1 is made in unitary form and its use requires that theend of the rope be threaded through it. This is not always convenientand the tool of FIGS. 2 to 4 has a modification in which the tool issplit on a vertical plane, the two parts being clamped together in use.The tool is formed in two similar halves hinged together by hinge pins15 and 16 coupled by brass links 17. Two captive bolts 18 have wing nutswhereby the halves of the assembly are held together. Serious damage maybe caused if the rope has a broken strand when this reaches therestriction presented by the tool. Under these circumstances quickrelease of the tool may be effected by withdrawal of the hinge pin 16,which is a snatch pin having a snatch chain attached. A spring clip 19prevents accidental withdrawal.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the tool of FIGS. 2 and 3. Forconvenience, FIG. 4 shows a minor modification in which wear bush 8 isomitted.

Referring now to FIG. there is shown schematically a rope-treatingarrangement using two tools 20 and 21 of the kind 'shown in FIGS 2 to 4.The tools are mounted immediately above the deck of an oil-drillingplatform and the wire rope passes through the tools as it is withdrawnfrom the bore-hole. The first tool receives compressed air at a pressureof some 125 p.s.i. from a feed pipe 22 which is supplied from acompressor (not shown). As the rope passes upwardly through the tool 20the annular jet of compressed air cleans it and carries off water andmud down the exhaust tubes 23 which lead back to the bore-hole.

After being cleaned by the tool 20 the rope passes through tool 21 whichapplies a protective film of oil to the rope. As oil mist is supplied tothe tool by feed pipe 24, the mist being generated by a conventionalspray head 25 receiving compressed air from the compressor and oil froma container 26. The oil mist is directed on to the rope from the annularjet and excess oil is carried back down the exhaust tubes 27 to bereturned to the container 26.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoingdescription of embodiments thereof made with reference to theaccompanying drawings. For example, the particular dimensions of thepassage, orifice and duct are not limiting. The angle of inclination ofthe duct may be different provided it is between 45 and 90 and thepressure of the air supply may be different. It is envisaged, forexample, that air may be supplied at pressures up to 500 p.s.i. or so.With such pressures the air can cause the rope to bird-cage, namely toopen out the lay locally by a longitudinally compressive action. This isparticularly useful when it is important to clean within the rope, aswhen the rope constitutes a cable, for example, including electricalleads for connection to the instruments.

The tool may be made of material other than nonferrous metal or nylonand in particular may be made of polyurethane, or hard rubbercomposition. Even if a unitary tool of the kind shown in FIG. 1 isrequired it will be convenient to mould the halves as for the split formand then bond the halves together with adhesive or by high frequencycapacitive welding.

The two halves of the split form of the tool may be held together byhose-type clamps instead of nuts and bolts.

I claim:

1. A tool for cleaning or treating wire rope comprismg:

a. a body defining a cylindrical passage along which passes the wirerope to be cleaned or treated;

b. the diameter of at least a portion of the passage corresponding tothe nominal gauge of the rope with only a small clearance substantiallyless than the gauge of the rope;

c. a supply chamber in the body for supplying pressurized fluid;

d. an annular duct terminating in an annular orifice extending aroundsaid portion of the passage coupling the supply chamber to the orificef0r conveying the fluid;

e. the duct being defined by the space between the portions of the bodywith closely spaced frustoconical surfaces so as to be inclined at theorifice end towards the end of the passage at which the rope enters, theangle defining the inclination between the axis of the passage and theduct being greater than 45 and less than f. said body being split in aplane containing the axis of the passage to define two similar bodyhalves;

g. removable means holding the body halves in their assembledrelationship; and,

h. means attached to the removable means to enable the body halves to bequickly separated in the event the rope should become blocked in saidportion of said body where only said small clearance is provided.

2. A tool as claimed in claim 1, in which said removable means includeshinge means having a removable snatch pin.

3. A tool as claimed in claim 1 wherein the angle of inclination of theduct with respect to the axis of the passage is substantially 60.

4. A tool as claimed in claim 1 wherein the one of said frusto-conicalportions which includes the acuteangled rim of the orifice is part of aremoveable wear bush in the body.

5. A tool as claimed in claim 1 wherein the width of the duct issubstantially 0.020 inch.

6. A tool as claimed in claim 1 wherein the entry end of the passage isflared outwardly away from the orifice.

7. A tool as claimed in claim 1 wherein the passage terminates at theentry end in a cross-bore from which air-suspended material is carriedaway.

1. A tool for cleaning or treating wire rope comprising: a. a bodydefining a cylindrical passage along which passes the wire rope to becleaned or treated; b. the diameter of at least a portion of the passagecorresponding to the nominal gauge of the rope with only a smallclearance substantially less than the gauge of the rope; c. a supplychamber in the body for supplying pressurized fluid; d. an annular ductterminating in an annular orifice extending around said portion of thepassage coupling the supply chamber to the orifice for conveying thefluid; e. the duct being defined by the space between the portions ofthe body with closely spaced frusto-conical surfaces so as to beinclined at the orifice end towards the end of the passage at which therope enters, the angle defining the inclination between the axis of thepassage and the duct being greater than 45* and less than 90*; f. saidbody being split in a plane containing the axis of the passage to definetwo similar body halves; g. removable means holding the body halves intheir assembled relationship; and, h. means attached to the removablemeans to enable the body halves to be quickly separated in the event therope should become blocked in said portion of said body where only saidsmall clearance is provided.
 2. A tool as claimed in claim 1, in whichsaid removable means includes hinge means having a removable snatch pin.3. A tool as claimed in claim 1 wherein the angle of inclination of theduct with respect to the axis of the passage is substantially 60*.
 4. Atool as claimed in claim 1 wherein the one of said frusto-conicalportions which includes the acute-angled rim of the orifice is part of aremoveable wear bush in the body.
 5. A tool as claimed in claim 1wherein the width of the duct is substantially 0.020 inch.
 6. A tool asclaimed in claim 1 wherein the entry end of the passage is flaredoutwardly away from the orifice.
 7. A tool as claimed in claim 1 whereinthe passage terminates at the entry end in a cross-bore from whichair-suspended material is carried away.